I heard the spring deals won't be such a deal this season. Might only see a $20 to 30 price break. Some may be none at all. Exactly why I plan on being full by seasons end. Not worth chancing it and seeing no price break in the end.
I put out my semi annual letter to dealers last week asking for their requirements thru the summer...no price breaks...in one weeks time I have about 70% of my order file filled and see another sold out season without any problems...my volumes will be up again, but then so is the demand and growing...World demand, not just in North America.
Not surprising, seems like demand for all brands of pellets is high. Not a bad business to be in right now. Do have any reservations of the price of pellets hitting the $400 mark retail? Not that you control this entirely. That's about the price that would pretty much dissolve all savings throughout all heat types (roughly speaking) and with the labor involved I believe people wilould switch back, at least in th US.
Don't be so sure about that... Heating oil hasn't yet hit a price limit... http://www.midatlanticoil.com/dealers/new-york/kings/default
Look at it another way....usually hybrid cars, organic veggies, etc usually sell at a premium, yet wood pellets vers heating oil is normally a savings....so I guess the argument could be made that the whole wood industry is under priced. I don't see pellets selling @$400 being the norm anytime soon, but each market is totally different. The whole "wood" sector seems to be in demand world wide, so it stands to reason that the prices will probably trend up....but you don't see the volatility in prices of pellets like you do in other commodities....but it's still all based on supply and demand. Smoke Show.........LOVE IT
not that I always like to agree with Doug, because he owes me a dinner, but we have heard from two pellet manufacturers so far, and the spring prices provided by them don't indicate any decrease from current pricing whatsoever. That being said, we have only so far learned this from two manufacturers so far, maybe the other will have numbers which indicate otherwise, but frankly, I doubt it.
Had to make a trip across the river today (dentist....root canal....UGH ), so on the way back I stopped at the HD over there, and lo and behold, there's a literal feeding frenzy going on, and some arguments too. Seems they had quite a few tons of Stove Chow and people were scrambling to buy as much as they could afford and/or transport. Spoke to a couple of people waiting to pay for tons, and they confirmed that this was the only "big box" within 50 miles that had anything in stock. Well, while the arguments were going on, I spied the loose pile inside the store and scapped-up 20 bags. Wasn't sure I really needed them, but the way this winter is going, we may have a long, drawn-out cool spring. OINK Oh, and the required pics to prove they really got bought.....Socks is giving the "sniff of approval":
A friend of mine works at Tractor supply (Altoona Pa) says they are out of pellets and there are no more orders coming in. Out of stock till fall orders come in.
CT Pellet has posted an update. Only selling to current customers due to the pellet squeeze. Hasn't set a quantity limited AFAIK, But may happen down the road..
It's the box stores that are out of pellets. There are pellets out there, just gonna cost more, sometimes for the same stuff the boxes ran out of. I bet I could go out and buy 5 tons tomorrow, but I would pay for it.
Every year, same thing happens, but this year is still cold so it has a bit more attention given to it. If we all only had the storage space, we would buy 2 years so we would alway be one year ahead and in position to replace the current years use in your own time and for the right deal. I've done that but skipped refilling one year so I'm back to a year at a time. I don't forsee any shortages of pellets. Just an issue of getting what you want for what want to pay. I no longer have the picky stove issue, so I'll go for the best deal so long as they are not infernos.
Checked a few other pellet dealer/houses. All have fuel. BT Ent. has a note on their main page. They must be getting lots of calls asking if they have pellets?
